Sheikh Ghazi Muhammad Hashim and his Tafsir Tabyan al-Quran: Sources and Methodological Features in Quranic Interpretation in Myanmar

This study examines the intellectual contribution of Sheikh Ghazi Muhammad Hashim, a prominent Muslim scholar from Myanmar, through his Qur’anic commentary Tiby?n al-Qur’?n. It focuses on the sources and methodological features that shaped the interpretation presented in this work. Although Qur’anic exegesis in Southeast Asia has received increasing scholarly attention, the exegetical heritage of Myanmar Muslims remains comparatively underexplored, particularly regarding Burmese-language tafsir and its engagement with Arabic, Urdu, Islamic, Christian, Buddhist and English sources. This study employs a qualitative library research design using documentary and descriptive-analytical methods. The primary source is Tiby?n al-Qur’?n, complemented by the author’s other writings and relevant historical and scholarly sources. The analysis shows that Hashim’s tafsir draws extensively on classical Arabic commentaries, Urdu tafsir, Qur’anic sciences, hadith collections, prophetic biography, Islamic jurisprudence, theology, Arabic lexicography, Burmese sources, Christian writings, Buddhist literature and English-language materials. This diversity reflects an exegetical approach that combines established Islamic scholarship with Myanmar's intellectual and religious environment. The study argues that Tiby?n al-Qur’?n should be understood not merely as a translation or reproduction of earlier tafsir, but as an important example of localised Qur’anic interpretation that mediated between the classical Islamic scholarly tradition and Myanmar's religiously plural context. The study contributes to the growing scholarship on Southeast Asian tafsir by highlighting the methodological significance of Burmese Muslim intellectual production and showing how a local exegete used diverse sources to make Qur’anic knowledge accessible to his community.